Hanging bells



(No Model.) Z'Sheets-Sheet 1. E. W. VANDUZEN. Hanging Bells. No. 229,568. Patented July 6,1880.

VWlnesses: Inventor:

NJEI'ERS. PHGTO-UTHDGRAPHER, WASNINGTGNv D Q (No Model.) 2 Sweets-Sheet: 2.

E.-W.,VANDUZEN.

Hanging Bells.

No. 229,568. Patented July 6,1880.

UNITED STATES EZRA W. VANDUZEN, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

HANGING BELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,568, dated July 6, I880.

Application filed April 12, 1880.

To all whom it mail concern.-

Be it known that I, EZRA W. VANDUZEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newport, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hanging Bells, (Case E 5) and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description of the same, sufficient to enable others skilled in to the art to which my invention appertains to make and use it, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a 1 bell with its crown and suspension plates, and showing the arrangement of the clapper. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, showing a mode of suspending the bell from a beam or timber. Fig. 3 is a top-plan view of the suspending and crown plates, with the bell-clapper re moved. Fig. 4 shows a modification in the form of the plates and the means for their attachment to the beam, and also showing the method of holding the clapper-pivot in place.

2 Fig. 5 is a vertical section of such plates, and

Fig. 6 is a top-plan view thereof.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures of the drawings indicate the same parts.

0 Fire-alarm and other heavy bells are generally hung by the following methods: first, by

a large iron yoke within a frame placed in the bell-tower, the bell being thereby raised above the floor or support of the frame sufficiently 3 5 to swing freely. The yoke passes down upon opposite sides of the bell, and its ends are journaled in the frame, so that a portion ex tends above and a portion below the axial line of the journals. For this reason, when the bell is struck by the clapper the shock is transmitted to the bearings of the yoke, and thence through the frame to the tower, which is thus injuriously strained and weakened. As the yoke requires to be made large and strong, it

4 5 is therefore heavy and expensive, and this expense is increased by employing the supporting-frame. 1n addition to these objections,

the operator or person ringing the bell must give a long pull upon the bell-rope before the clapper will strike the bell, thereby making the operation very laborious.

(No model.)

The second method of hanging the bells is to bolt them rigidly to a beam within the belltower, in which case the shocks and jars are communicated directly to the tower with greater force, and are therefore productive of greater injury to the tower.

My invention is designed to obviate these objectionsand defects; and to this end it. consists, first, in dispensing entirely with the yoke and frame for hanging the bell, and employing instead a suspending-plate secured to the top of the bell, and adapted to be hung from a beam or timber above the bell, in such a manner as to prevent the shocks and jars from being transmitted to the beam and bell-tower.

It also consists in extending the bell-clapper through the top of the bell, in order that the power for operating the clapper may be applied above instead of below the bell, and .thereby shorten the pull required for swinging the clapper.

It also consists in constructing the top of the bell for the passage of the clapper-shank and the attachment of the suspending-plate and crown-plate.

It also consists in the construction of the suspending-plate and the means for its attachment to the supporting-beam.

It also consists in the means for holding the pintle or pivot of the bell-clapper in place in order to prevent it from working loose by the vibrations of the bell.

In the accompanying drawings, A repre sents a fire-alarm bell of the usual form, cepting that it is cast with an enlarged opening in its top.

B is a crown-plate placed on the inside of the bell, with a boss, 0, extending within the top opening; and D is the suspending-plate, placed on the top of the bell over the opening, and bolted to the crown-plate by four corner bolts, E, as shown. The edge of the bell around the opening is thus clamped between the crown and suspending plates and centered against the boss 0.

By loosening the nuts upon the bolts above the suspending-plate the bell can be turned circumferentially 011 the crown plate, and thereby present new surfaces for the wear of the clapper.

The raised top of the suspending-plate is cast upon two opposite sides with trunnions G G, over which suitable links or straps H H are slipped for suspending the bell from a beam or timber, I, above the bell.

As shown in Fig. 2, the upper ends of the straps are connected by a cross-bolt resting upon the beam, although it may pass through the beam, if preferred; but for lighter bells, such as alarm-bells for steamboats, the upper ends of the straps may be bolted to the side of the beam, as shown in Fig. 4.

The bell-clapper is so hung that its blows will cause the bell to swing upon the suspending-straps in the direction of the blows, and thereby prevent the shocks from being communicated to the beam and its supports.

With heavy bells the double-pivoted straps are preferable because the swing of the bell is stronger; but for the smaller bells the single joint is sufiicient.

By suspending the bells iii the manner described not only is the jar of the supportingtimbers prevented, but the clumsy and expensive bell frame and yoke are dispensed with, and by using the suspending-plate I am enabled, in bells of the same size, to save threequarters of the metal required for the yoke, besides reducing the weight proportionately.

The clapper I" is hung within the crownplate, and its upper end is extended through the top of the hell by means of a beveled slot, J, cast in the crown and suspending plates, as shown in Fig. 1. That portion of the clapper which projects through the top of the hell I term the upper shank of the clapper, and it extends from the pivot upward about onethird the length of the clapper from the pivot to the ball. Power being applied to the upper end of the shank, by a rope or other means, will therefore more it less than one-half the distance that the ball will move to strike the bell. For this reason the operator, by a shorter movement of his arms, can ring the hell with much greater ease than it could he done if the power were applied to the lower end of the clapper; and when both his arms are used to pull the clapper in opposite directions their movement will be much shorter, and consequently the work will be less tiresome. The leverage also increases the momentum of the clapper and causes it. to strike the bell with quicker and sharper blows.

ln order to prevent the vibrations of the bell from jarring the pivot-pin of the clapper out of its supports the suspending and crown plates may be made as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, wherein the suspending-plate is represented with a central recess, K, in the under side, and the crown-plate with two cars, L L, cast upon its upper surface, one upon each side of the central slot and parallel with the trunnions of the suspending-plate. Two or more lugs, M, are also cast upon the top of the crown-plate to assist in supporting the suspending plate and form center bearings for the bell when clamped between the two plates.

When the pivot of the clapper is passed through the ears L L and the plates applied to the bell the edge of the opening in the top of the latter bears against or is in close proximity to the ends of the pivot, and therefore prevents it from working out of the ears.

When this construction is employed the thickness of the crown and suspending plates is somewhat decreased, because the pivot of the clapper is placed higher in the bell, and therefore the slot in the plates can be made shorter, the pivot being about equidistant from the upper and lower surfaces of the combined plates. This form is, perhaps, best adapted for the small alarm-bells, and therefore but two bolts are required to clamp the plates upon the bell, although four may be used, particularly for large bells.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The com bination, with an open-top bell, of a suspending-plate secured to the top of the bell and suspending-straps articulated to the suspending'plate, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

2. A suspending-plate secured to the top of the bell and provided with trunnions upon opposite sides combined with the suspendingstraps hung upon the trunnions and connected to an overhanging beam or timber, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the bell,ot' the slotted suspension-plate, the slotted crown-plate, and the pivoted clapper having its shank extended through the slots in said plates above the bell, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, with the bell, of the crown-plate formed with the diametrical slot and the suspending-plate formed with trunnions, and a diametrical slot registering with the slot in the crown-plate, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

5. The crown-plate constructed with ears or bearings for the clapper-pivot, and the suspending-plate recessed or formed to receive said ears, arranged so that when the two plates are applied to the bell the clapper-pivot shall be in line with the edge of the opening in the bell, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of March, A. D. 1880.

EZRA W. VANDUZEN.

Witnesses:

N. K. ELLSWORTH, E. A. ELLSWORTH. 

